Right Hand Drive Guys

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The 25-year rule is starting to feel a lot less exciting.
In this episode of the Right Hand Drive Guys Podcast, Bobby and Aaron look ahead to the JDM cars becoming federally legal to import into the United States in 2027—and realize that we may have officially reached the end of the era we’ve all been waiting for.
There are still some interesting cars becoming eligible, including the Honda Accord Euro R, Toyota Caldina GT-Four, Mitsubishi Colt, Nissan Cube, Nissan March, and the Z33 Fairlady Z.
But compared to the cars that have become legal over the past decade, the list feels very different.
And then comes the depressing part.
By 2027, the entire production run of some of the most iconic Japanese performance cars will finally be 25 years old. The R34 Skyline GT-R. The S15 Silvia and the end of the S-chassis. The A80 Toyota Supra. The FD RX-7. Cars enthusiasts have spent years counting down toward will no longer have another model year left to wait for.
For American JDM enthusiasts, the 25-year rule created a second golden era. Every year brought another version of a Skyline, Silvia, Supra, RX-7, Evo, or other hero car that we had spent decades wanting but couldn’t legally own.
Now, that countdown is basically over.
The guys talk about what that means for the future of the JDM import market, what importers and right-hand-drive dealerships do when the “hero cars” stop becoming newly eligible, and whether the next phase of the market could actually bring back affordable Japanese imports instead of six-figure collector cars.
They also discuss how many of the desirable cars have already left Japan, how quickly clean examples are disappearing into private collections around the world, and whether seeing an R34 GT-R or S15 at a Japanese auction will eventually become something genuinely rare.
Does the end of the 25-year countdown hurt the JDM market?
Or does it just mark the beginning of a new phase—where every car we’ve ever waited for is finally legal?
Either way, 2027 feels like the end of something big.

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Every car guy has a horror story.
For Episode 201 of the Right Hand Drive Guys Podcast—and a Halloween release—Bobby and Aaron dig into some of the worst automotive decisions, breakdowns, shop disasters, crashes, blown engines, and straight-up nightmares they’ve experienced over the years.
Aaron starts with the 180SX that may have been cursed from the beginning. What looked like a properly modified SR20 car quickly turned into missing mods, questionable tuning, 20 pounds of boost on a mystery fuel setup, broken valve springs, a damaged twin-plate clutch, a fried turbo, and eventually a street-drifting accident caused by a throttle hanging wide open.
And somehow that was all basically the same car.
Bobby answers with the story of his Evo IX MR—a car he loved enough to keep dragging around the country even after launching a connecting rod through the side of the block while trying to prove a point to a passenger. Add in crash damage, more than a year sitting at a shop, questionable fender rolling, and eventually trading the thing away, and the Evo earns its place in the horror-story hall of fame.
The guys also revisit the time Bobby’s R34 GT-R started smoking from the MFD after a full day at Fuji Speedway, leaving them stranded at the Fuji Speedway Hotel with a dead car and a complicated trip back to Tokyo.
Then there’s Aaron’s S13 convertible: a custom roll cage that was specifically supposed to clear the convertible top...except once the car came back from the paint shop, the top wasn’t even close to fitting. That mistake eventually made the car nearly unusable and permanently soured the entire build.
And because questionable teenage decisions deserve their own category, Bobby tells the story of turbocharging a D-series Civic with an incomplete turbo kit, using the wrong type of hose for the turbo oil return, putting out an engine-bay fire with a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew, and ultimately blowing the engine anyway.
Some horror stories come from dishonest sellers. Some come from bad shops. Some come from broken parts.
And some happen because you’re twenty years old and absolutely convinced you know what you’re doing.
Happy Halloween from RHDGuys.

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200 episodes.
In this milestone episode of the Right Hand Drive Guys Podcast, Bobby and Aaron look back at how a couple of guys talking about right-hand-drive cars in a Maine garage somehow turned into 200 episodes, trips across the country, multiple visits to Japan, major events, unforgettable guests, and a community that has stuck with the show for nearly four years.
The guys revisit some of their favorite moments from the podcast, including recording live from Tokyo Auto Salon, doing episodes from Japan Airlines flights and tiny Japanese campers, visiting UP Garage, covering GTR Festival and Import Alliance, getting recognized as media by events like SEMA, and sitting down with people they never imagined they’d have the opportunity to interview when the show started.
They also look back at some memorable guests and episodes—from RJ De Vera, Jun Imai, Jesse Iwuji, Albo, TommyFYEAH, Mark Bahna, Leb Cueto and countless builders, collectors, racers, importers and personalities who have helped tell the story of JDM culture through the show.
There’s plenty of nostalgia too: marketplace sweeps, deep dives into Skyline and Silvia models, import guides, Japan convenience-store debates, disappearing Japanese tuning shops, road trips, shop visits and all the ridiculous conversations that somehow became part of RHDGuys history.
But Episode 200 isn’t just about looking backward.
Bobby and Aaron also talk about where the podcast goes from here. Life is changing, traveling to every major event isn’t always realistic, and neither of them knows exactly what the next 200 episodes look like.
What they do know is that as long as the podcast is still fun, the listeners are still supporting it, and there are good stories left to tell, they’re going to keep showing up.
Two hundred episodes later, it’s still two friends talking about cars they love.
Thank you to everyone who has listened, shared an episode, joined the Facebook group, sent a message, came on the show, met us at an event, or supported RHDGuys along the way.
Here’s to 200.

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What happens when you put seven serious R34 GT-R owners in one conversation?
In this episode of the Right Hand Drive Guys Podcast, Bobby and Aaron are joined by Jesse Iwuji, Jay aka Jzilaw, Jerome Espiritu, Justin, Paul, Chris, and Anthony for one of the biggest roundtable episodes the show has done yet.
The common thread is obvious: R34 GT-Rs. But the conversation goes way deeper than just owning the cars.
The guys talk about how each of them got into the GT-R world, where their cars came from, what it was like buying and storing R34s in Japan before they became federally legal in the U.S., and how friendships formed around a shared obsession with these cars.
Naturally, the self-proclaimed “GTR Police” also make an appearance.
The group gets into up-badging, GT-Ts wearing GT-R badges, tribute builds, replicas, and where the line is between modifying a Skyline with GT-R parts and intentionally misrepresenting what the car actually is.
From there, things get technical.
The guys debate whether the R34 GT-R is actually overhyped, dig into its motorsports history, discuss Nürburgring myths, compare the R33 and R34, and talk about why performance numbers alone don’t determine what an iconic car should be worth.
There’s also plenty of build talk: stock-motor track cars, 2.8-liter strokers, V-Cam setups, big twins, single turbos, custom titanium fabrication, full chassis restorations, suspension, brakes, and why several of the guys have moved away from chasing maximum horsepower in favor of making the entire car better.
They also share stories from Japan, including buying cars through Toprank, Space Auto, Garage Defend and Best R, driving R34s around Tokyo, visiting Omori Factory, installing NISMO parts in the rain, drifting at Daigo Saito’s compound, and creating experiences that made the cars mean more than their market value ever could.
But the biggest theme of the episode isn’t really the cars.
It’s the community.
What started with Instagram posts, arguments over up-badging, and random messages turned into a group of guys who talk almost every day, travel together, race together, argue about technical details, help each other with builds, and have become genuine friends through the GT-R world.
This is less of an interview and more like sitting in on the group chat.
R34 GT-R history, builds, myths, Japan stories, badging controversy, ridiculous opinions, and plenty of shit talking.
Welcome to the GTR Police.

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Rust might be the single biggest nightmare in the JDM import world.
In this episode of the Right Hand Drive Guys Podcast, Bobby and Aaron dig into one of the most important—and expensive—things to understand before buying an older Japanese car: rust.
The guys talk about why so many JDM cars develop serious corrosion, from Japan’s climate and coastal exposure to road treatments, aging seam sealer, moisture trapped between overlapping panels, and bare metal that can sit hidden for years before finally bubbling through.
They break down the common problem areas to inspect, including frame rails, rocker panels, wheel arches, pinch welds, strut towers, windshield frames, brake-booster areas, and model-specific trouble spots found on cars like the R32, R33, R34, S14 and S15.
The conversation also gets into the terrifying side of hidden rust—fresh undercoating covering flaky metal, fiberglass repairs, filler, spray foam, rust forming underneath windshields, and cars that look great in photos but turn into a completely different story once they’re on a lift.
So how much rust is too much?
Bobby and Aaron walk through the difference between simple surface corrosion, scaling and flaking metal, and full structural rust-through. They also discuss why the location of the rust can matter even more than how ugly it looks. A replaceable frame section might be manageable, while corrosion in a difficult structural or exterior area can quickly turn into a massive restoration.
They also cover common repair and prevention methods, including grinding, media blasting, cutting and welding, panel replacement, epoxy primer, seam sealer, cavity wax, underbody coatings, and why properly protecting repaired metal is just as important as removing the rust in the first place.
Finally, the guys talk about what buyers can do before purchasing a JDM car: research where it lived in Japan, check history when possible, inspect carefully, understand the weak points of the specific chassis, and accept that buying sight unseen always comes with some level of risk.
If you own an older Japanese car—or you’re thinking about importing one—this is an episode you should probably hear before the screwdriver goes through the frame rail.